August 19 Police authorities have identified the four people found dead Thursday in a narrow underwater passage in a cave near Provo, Utah.
Preliminary medical examinations indicate that the two men and two women drowned while trying to exit the cave, said Karen Mayne, spokesperson for the Provo Police Department.
“It appears there was panic involved in their exit and it was in such a small area,” Mayne said. “One person couldn’t get around the other. It was bad.”
To aid rescue efforts, emergency rescue crews pumped oxygen into the cave and water out. However, crews were unfamiliar with the cave or its layout, she said.
“We didn’t know it existed and that was so strange to us,” Mayne said. “Our search and rescue teams that had been involved in rescue in this area for many years didn’t know about this particular cave, and yet a lot of young people knew about it and visited it.”
The victims, all from Utah, have been identified as Scott K. McDonald, 28, of Provo; J. Blake Donner, 24, of Springville; Jennifer Lynn Galbraith, 21, of Pleasant Grove; and Ariel R. Singer, 18, of Orem.
According to the Associated Press (AP), a fifth friend, Joseph Ferguson, 26, had called authorities about an hour after his friends entered the water-filled passage.
Provo resident Brian Lamprey, 29, told the AP that word of the cave’s location, just south of Y Mountain, appears to have been spreading recently by word of mouth. He went into the cave three weeks ago.
Lamprey said that the entrance to the underground passageway is a visible hole at the bottom of a pool of clear water approximately five feet deep that sits 30 yards inside the cave. He also mentioned that someone had placed a guide rope in the passage.
Police spokesperson Karen Mayne said it was unclear whether the rope had severed while the victims were exploring. There was no evidence that anyone had previously died in the cave.
Yesterday the city of Provo met with archaeologists from United States Forest Service to locate other caves in the area, some of which are connected to old mining tunnels. The Provo Public Works Department has already begun filling existing caves with rocks and mortar to eliminate future hazards.
Proper training, which includes instruction on open water, gas management, depth, and use of light, is the key to preventing fatal mishaps, said Michael O’Leary, president of the National Association of Cave Divers.
“The people that wind up having accidents in caves are people who lack training,” he said. “They’re the majority.”
Read more about the dangers of underwater caves in “Raising the Dead” from the August issue of Outside about deep cave diver Dave Shaw.
